Leave It Behind > Brian Bailey

The One Thing

The Blogging Church concludes with a chapter called, The One Thing. It may be my favorite part of the book, which is funny because I wrote less of it than any other chapter.

Here's the premise: I contacted some of my favorite bloggers and asked them to share the one piece of advice they would give another blogger. The result is 16 contributions from a diverse group of bloggers, from the man largely responsible for the blogging revolution to authors to church planters. There are believer and unbelievers, liberals and conservatives, A-Listers and, well, the rest of us.

The responses were as varied as the people themselves. Of course, very few could limit themselves to just one thing, so the contributions are packed with clever ideas and interesting perspectives. And just like the blogosphere, not all of them agree.

Each of these people was incredibly generous to contribute to the book and I can't thank them enough. Check out this list of top-flight bloggers and first-class people, visit their sites, and subscribe for a few weeks if you don't already. I've been reading some of these blogs for more than five years and through them learned most of what I know about blogging, and thankfully, a few other things as well.

1. Guy Kawasaki | subscribe
One-time Macintosh evangelist, author, and start-up guru

2. Kathy Sierra | subscribe
Creating Passionate Users

3. Robert Scoble | subscribe
One-time Microsoft blogger, now with PodTech

4. Dave Winer | subscribe
Scripting News, developer of RSS, blogging and podcasting evangelist

5. Shel Israel | subscribe
Co-author of the corporate blogging book, Naked Conversations

6. David Weinberger | subscribe
Author of Small Pieces Loosely Joined and co-author of The Cluetrain Manifesto

7. Julie Leung | subscribe
Storyteller and homeschooling mother of three

8. Ben McConnell | subscribe
Co-author of Creating Customer Evangelists

9. Kem Meyer | subscribe
Communications Director of Granger Community Church

10. Gary Lamb | subscribe
Pastor of Ridge Stone Church

11. Jeremy Wright | subscribe
President of b5media

12. Ben Arment | subscribe
Pastor of History Church

13. Merlin Mann | subscribe
43 Folders

14. Josh Williams | subscribe
Firewheel Design

15. Andrew Jones | subscribe
TallSkinnyKiwi

16. Scott Hodge | subscribe
Pastor of Orchard Valley Community Church

I would never want to rank these, but I should state for the record that one contribution was indeed my favorite. When I read Julie Leung's piece for the first time, I immediately knew that it would be the last word and it is. I couldn't imagine a better way to end the book.

The first copies will ship in just six weeks! You can pre-order from Amazon.

A little slice of (DVD) heaven

This weekend was our first experience with something that will soon become commonplace - we watched a movie that Ben had seen, but Lori and I hadn't. In fact, he'd managed to see it (Cars) twice with two different friends. Next thing you know he'll be ridiculing us for being out of touch with pop culture!

But that is not the reason for this post.

See, the Cars DVD has a feature that I have dreamed about for years (when you're married and have children, these are the kinds of things you dream about). I've wanted this so badly that it was on my list of things to write about, but it always made me sound too much like a curmudgeon.

What is it? The DVD has at least 10 different extras and bonus content - and each one has the time next to it!

For example > John Lasseter's inspiration for Cars (15:47)

Please tell me other people have experienced this. You're trying to decide whether to watch a DVD extra with a simple title ("The Making of Cars", for instance), but you have no idea whether this is a 5-minute overview, a 15-minute mini-documentary, or a 60-minute Disney Channel special. The same goes for the numerous other featurettes. The length helps you decide whether to watch it and, more commonly, when to watch it.

We watch quite a few DVDs and Cars is the first I have ever seen where every single extra (including each deleted scene) displays the length next to it. Very nice -  a simple, helpful feature that makes things just a little easier.

Oh yeah, the movie is great, too.

Fun with iTunes

I've found my favorite dashboard widget. Apple's operating system supports these widgets, small programs that can do everything from display stock quotes, a daily cartoon, track flights, and just about anything else (view all widgets). My favorite is Sing that iTune. While a song is playing in iTunes, you can visit dashboard and it will pull up the complete lyrics to the song!

This incredibly handy and I find myself using it constantly. Looking for lyrics online usually entails a Google search followed by a visit to a site that is 95% ads and sometimes contains spyware. The lyrics in the widget are ad-free and very accurate. You can even customize where it pulls the lyrics from if you have a better source. If you have OS X, give it a try.

My favorite lyric right now is from Bruce Springsteen:

And though the world is filled
With the grace and beauty of God's hand
Oh I wish I were blind
When I see you with your man

I've been enjoying music a lot since I finally discovered a great use for the MacBook Pro's included remote control and Front Row. I hook the laptop up to a set of speakers, start iTunes, hop on the treadmill, and control the songs and volume with the super-small, super-slick remote.

iTunes shuffles my playlist for me and in the process, reveals a terrific sense of humor. Out of my thousands of songs, iTunes recently played "Hate & War" by The Clash, followed by "God is Love" by Marvin Gaye. Hate, Love, God, and War in the span of six minutes - wow!

Happy Thanksgiving

Wishing everyone a wonderful day with friends and family!

Lori is making an incredible meal, the sky is blue and the temperature is 71, Ben and I are headed outside and a mix of Coldplay and Frank Sinatra is playing in the background.

At each Thanksgiving meal, all of us share three things that we're thankful for. Of course, the hardest part is narrowing the list to three - I am so blessed, especially by Ben and Lori. One of the rules, though, is that the three things can't be those of us sitting around the table.

Here are my three for 2006:

I'm thankful that I am able to work and worship at Fellowship Church. There's simply no other place like it. And I get to work with so many outstanding people, especially Jeph and Brad.

I'm thankful for music. I'm continually amazed at the ability of music to change my mood, make me think, help me work and write, and inspire me.

I'm thankful for the web. As funny as that sounds, I wouldn't have the job I have, the opportunity to write a book, or the chance to meet so many interesting and diverse people, without the web. Every day there are a new ideas, new tools, and new people waiting to be discovered. Thanks for spending some of your time here!

What are you thankful for?

Finally, tonight we continue our family tradition of reading a book together during the holidays. We start a book (Rascal - our all-time favorite) on Thanksgiving and read it each night until we finish it on Christmas Eve. It's a wonderful way to make sure you experience some quiet time together every night during this crazy time of year. Just pick a favorite book and get started!

Note: Dave Winer shared some warm thoughts about this special day.

Mismash

Over the past few months, my sister Beth has started reading this blog more often. She'll send friendly emails here and there, ask a follow-up question or congratulate me on a book milestone. It's always a little odd when your family reads your blog - comforting, but also somewhat unsettling.

Since Beth stops by once in awhile, I thought I should share a story that is 20 years in the making.

I grew up with two older sisters - Beth, the oldest and Laura, the middle child. I tended to get along with Beth better due to the greater age difference - we had very little common territory to fight over. She also did some wonderful things for me. The one that stands out was a birthday when she not only got me tickets to see Bill Cosby in person (my childhood hero), but I received a signed birthday card from Cosby himself a few days before. This has always been one of my favorite memories, but now that Ben shares my love for his comedy albums and we've started watching the Cosby Show together as a family, I appreciate it even more.

This story, though, takes place in October of 1987. I was a senior in high school, courting a cute, young girl named Lori. We had been going out for about a month officially and this October night we had probably gone to see a movie and ended up back at my house around 10pm.

Beth was home watching a M*A*S*H rerun. Our whole family loved M*A*S*H and had seen every episode at least five times (note: the show had been over for four years at this point). We even had a trivia quiz book that we were disturbingly good at. Beth was the most obsessed of all.

At this point in our relationship, I had done a good job of convincing Lori that I didn't care much for sports, though that was something short of true. On this night, though, I had an excuse - the Detroit Tigers were in the playoffs. Baseball was my favorite sport, cemented when the Tigers won the World Series in 1984.

We walked into the living room and I immediately reached for the remote so I could check the status of the game - after all, baseball playoffs games in Michigan are a rare thing. It won't surprise any of you with siblings that a fight ensued. My wonderful sister was shocked and offended that I would try to change the channel in the middle of her favorite show. I was shocked and offended that she would insist on watching a rerun over a playoff game. This was my final argument...

"I can't believe you're not going to change the channel! M*A*S*H is on every single night. It could be 20 years before the Tigers are in the playoffs again!"

She didn't give in.

I took Lori home and the Tigers eventually lost the series. I actually remember that night every now and then, but the story recently came to its perfect conclusion.

Most of you are aware the 2006 World Series ended just a few short weeks ago. The St. Louis Cardinals defeated the Detroit Tigers in five games.

It was the first time the Tigers had made the playoffs since 1987 - 19 years ago.

By the way, you can still catch M*A*S*H most evenings in syndication - just check your local listings.

Blogging for Dollars

The Economist on Blogging: Going Pro

Interesting piece in The Economist on the latest wave of professional bloggers and online publishing empires (Scoble calls them content malls). They cover many of the usual suspects.

What they don't point out is that nearly every financially successful blogger spent years pouring themselves into blogging because they were passionate about blogging and what they were blogging about. There was a lot of sacrifice and risktaking. The financial rewards are the result of that hard work. Most of these bloggers would tell you that the last thing they were thinking of when they started blogging was money.

Very few people will every make a living from blogging. Similarly, there are less than 500 players in the NBA. That fact doesn't stop anyone from shooting baskets on the weekend.

Be who you are, respect your audience, give credit where credit is due, and let your blog be what it is.

Read the Article

The Blogging Church Journey

Terry and I want to thank all of you who have been a huge part of the Blogging Church journey which began 15 months ago - through interviews, questions, feedback, comments, and encouragement. Now that the book release is just two months away (we received confirmation that pre-orders will ship on January 12), it's time for the next phase on this long, strange trip!

Two weeks ago, we received copies of the book galleys, or "Advance Uncorrected Proof" as they like to call it. The galleys are the last step before the release - you actually get to see the book as it will be in the final version. When the book is a hardcover, the galleys are substantially different, but since The Blogging Church is an affordable paperback, the galleys are very close to the real deal.

It was a thrill to hold the book at last. It's a great size and weight - it begs to be thrown in a bag for a long flight or a trip to the coffee shop. With its wide margins, it just looks like a book to be used - marked up, highlighted, and a few Post-It notes dangling from the pages.

The index isn't there yet, the last round of edits haven't been incorporated, and some of the design is still being finalized, but it's a real book at last!

And it's a book on the move - we're sending the book on a journey across the country! We've chosen one of our favorite bloggers to kick this off. On Monday, he'll receive the galleys, read as much as he likes, sign it, take a photo with the book and post it, then send it on to the blogger of his choice. Of course, we'll track the book's progress right here.

We had to start the journey right here in Texas. Here's the first picture - me, Terry, and the book!

The new home for BloggingChurch.com

The transition to the new site for The Blogging Church is nearly complete! If the result looks suspiciously like LeaveItBehind.com, that's because it is exactly that.

The site for The Blogging Church and my blog have merged to become a powerful new conglomerate offering incredible synergy for each of its formerly divergent, market-leading ventures!

"So basically, there were two sites before and now there's one?"

Well, yeah, that about sums it up.

The book blog has been archived and all of that content is still available here, along with Terry's great podcasts. I've added links to the BloggingChurch.com content on the sidebar of this site, including the most recent additions, What People Are Saying and the list of Blogging Pastors and Churches.

One site and one feed for updates on the book, thoughts on blogging in the church, and an eclectic collection of bonus content. Terry and I are working on some fun ideas for the book as it nears publication and a few more improvements are coming to this site. So make yourselves at home, say hello to the people around you, and join the conversation when you have something to say!

For those of you who have been kind enough to promote The Blogging Church on your sites through slick marketing graphics, thank you! The images and links still work perfectly well. Look for a fresh set of graphics and site badges in the near future.

After the election

A heartfelt, thought-provoking piece by Peggy Noonan on where we go from here.

Concession Stands

The City Museum in St. Louis

This summer, we took a family trip to St. Louis. Lori, Ben and I drove to meet her brother and his family, who were driving a remarkably similar distance from Michigan. We spent four days together in blissful Midwestern family vacation nirvana, complete with the Arch, fireworks, packed swimming pools, full minivans, and late nights with tired kids.

The highlight of the entire trip, though, was a trip to the City Museum of St. Louis. With all due respect to the endless numbers of wonderful museums in the world of all different types, some of which I've had the pleasure visiting, the City Museum is the most incredible museum I have ever experienced. I think it alone is worth a visit to St. Louis.

I can't think of anything to compare it to, so try to imagine if Willy Wonka built a museum instead of a chocolate factory (minus the Oompa Loompas). If you had the pleasure of knowing my father, John Bailey, through friendship or relation, then you must make a pilgrimage to St. Louis as soon as possible. It expresses his creativity, craziness, fondness for the unexpected and love of children perfectly. As soon as you walk in, you'll know what I mean. Here is a small hint of what's inside.

It's an entire world to explore. You can climb, crawl, hide, and run. You can touch anything. You will see some of the most inventive and clever combinations of objects. And you will smile throughout at the madcap brilliance of it all.

You could easily spend an entire day there, but try to avoid the hottest part of the summer as much of it is outside. Anyone of any age would probably enjoy it, but if you have children over 8, they will have a ball. The environment is so safe and inviting that you'll soon find yourself, and your children, doing things you'd never expect. Just click on the picture to get closer look - those really are people crawling through the air.

I was going to put together a photo album, but then I found a fun one of the museum's site. I'll still try to post a few more that give a better idea of the many twists and turns. If you're anywhere near St. Louis, make sure you stop by.

Visit the site | View the photo tour